Gun safety begins with dealers putting guns in safes | Editorial

By Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board

Orlando Sentinel|

Aug 19, 2019 | 3:12 PM

Only nine states have laws requiring gun stores to take measures to protect against theft. Florida isn’t among them. Current security measures at many gun shops are hardly enough to keep thieves away. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

When it comes to requirements for securing weapons, gun shops might as well be candy stores.

“There are no requirements,” said Mary Harmon-Salter, an area supervisor with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

There are no federal laws. Nine states have laws requiring gun stores to take measures to protect against theft.

Those requirements vary, but they generally include alarm and video systems, and some manner of safe storage after hours. Illinois passed a law this year that requires gun dealers to submit a safety plan to the state police, which may reject it as inadequate.

Florida’s lack of regulations is not shocking given the politics of gun control in the state. One thing everyone should agree on, however, is there needs to be minimal control.

Some gun dealers make those recommendations a priority. Others, not so much.

“There are all different types, from the very secure to the not as secure,” Harmon-Salter said. “The common theme is if someone wants it, they’re going to get it.”

It’s true that gun thieves are especially brazen. They cut through ceilings and ram trucks through front doors and windows.

They smash, grab and are usually gone before law enforcement arrives. Almost 7,500 guns were stolen from licensed firearms dealers in 2018, according to the ATF.

That’s a drop in the 300-million-gun ocean that is America. But stolen guns have an outsized impact on crime.

A Department of Justice survey of inmates at 366 prisons found that 56 percent stole the firearms they used in committing their crimes. Forty-three percent got their guns “off the street or from the underground market.”

Four of the guns stolen in Central Florida last month have been recovered. The others are statistically destined to be fired at police or stuck in the face of a 7-Eleven clerk working the midnight shift.

Tell those cops and clerks that securing guns at night is just too time consuming.

As hard as it is to stop a smash-and-grab thieves, it’s not impossible.

“Just put (guns) in safes,” Harmon-Salter said.

That won’t guarantee the crime will be foiled, but penetrating a safe could consume enough time to allow law enforcement to arrive.